


There's no denying...

by RahDamon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Cuddling, Hugging, Lion Switch, M/M, jacket switch, krb 2018, leader keith, supporting lance, suspicious Shiro, wearing each other's jacket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 13:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14379726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RahDamon/pseuds/RahDamon
Summary: Being the Black Paladin, even temporarily, is too stressful for Keith to bear, especially with Allura going over his head or Shiro acting weird after returning to them. Keith’s likely to blow over the smallest matter. Or he would if Lance and Keith hadn’t made a deal.





	1. ...that peace and...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much feather for your beautiful [ Art ](https://featherstorm77.tumblr.com/post/173136700426/cozy) and thank you cheesecake for doing such a wonderful job at beta-ing!

“… and we’ll be looking forward to welcoming you on my Castle.”

  


Keith only caught the end of Allura’s speech when he entered the bridge. But it was enough to freeze his bones while making his blood boil with rage at the same time. He had a very good idea about what she had been doing, and if it turned out to be the truth ... well, he was going to blow.

  


"Allura."

  


She jumped and drew her bayard in the same motion, the whip snapping out and crackling with energy. When Allura realized it was Keith, she didn't relax. Instead, she tensed up further, her head high and lips pressed together into thin peach slices.

  


"Keith, what a surprise seeing you wander out of the training deck."

  


"It happens. And here I find you, talking with people I found rather suspicious when we 'saved' them."

  


The accusation echoed silent and clear through the air.

  


Allura sighed, that long, drawn-out sigh Keith had gotten used to over the years whenever the foster parent of the week had looked down at him with eyes shrouded in contempt and disappointment just before sighing and telling Keith that they couldn’t deal with him anymore. It was a sound that had hurt until he pulled up a wall of restless agitation around himself and switched to attack.

  


"You're too paranoid. It is the Altean way to welcome potential allies with open arms and transparent tables -"

  


"We know how many Alteans are still alive."

  


Keith immediately winced, internally. That had been too crass, too harsh even by his standards. Allura would bristle in reaction to his words and go on the defensive. Defensive for her meant offensive, though. Keith winced again as he saw that her back had relaxed but most of the muscles in her arm had visibly bulked, ready to fight.

  


"Oh, and we know the culprits as well, don't we, Galra?"

  


She could have spoken too quickly, slurred the sentences, but Keith didn't think so. Not with the tilt at the end of her voice which suggested she was calling him a Galra. They were back to this, then.

  


"Yes. Zarkon and the ones loyal to him, anyway.”

  


Attempting to curb his anger was more of a struggle than Keith thought but somehow, somehow, he did it. _Patience yields focus_ ran through his mind, the thought wearing a cape of thorns and spikes.

  
"Allura, just ... trust me on this. My gut screams that they're up to no good. We'll be stabbed in the back if we allow them on the ship. And I trust my instincts."

  
"This is and remains my castle. We will all welcome them, tomorrow, do you understand?"

  
Keith balled his fists and locked his teeth as he nodded. He was going to be patient. He was going to be focussed. He was going to be prepared, both to fight and to receive her apology after the betrayal they were going to encounter.

  
And his instincts proved to be true. With smiles, these potential allies entered the castle, regal in their robes and posture and four of eight limbs in a constant cross. They talked and laughed and ate with the Paladins, all while a second group sneaked onto the ship and started wreaking havoc.

  


If Keith hadn't set traps along most of the corridors - to the healing pods, to the Paladin rooms, to the lions, to the energy crystal, to the teludav, to the food rations, to the armory and training deck - just before the first faction had stepped onto the castle, the Paladins would have noticed the invading party too late. However, Keith had made sure that his traps, when triggered, were noticeable.

  


You generally notice it when ear-shattering explosions rock your ship.

  


At the first explosion Keith didn't even hesitate. He jumped up and used the butt of his bayard to knock out the leader before going through the rest as more and more explosions thrummed through the castle.

  


By the time any of the other Paladins or the Princess reacted, all of the enemies were knocked out and he gave them a wry look.

  


"You'd be dead," Keith informed them with a dry tone. "We have to get the others."

  


"Others?" Lance echoed, shifting and sliding into what Keith called Lance’s 'serious' mode. When Lance was like that, Keith knew Lance was listening and Keith also knew to consider anything Lance said as important.

  


"I set traps to our most important rooms. Only to go off if someone without a Voltron armor or Altean DNA tried to walk there."

  


Pidge blinked before looking at him with shining eyes. "You set traps to go off on that? How did you do th-"

  


"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Allura was shaking, staring at him with wide eyes and flared nostrils.

  


Instinctively, Keith ducked, bowing his back so he could snap forward and get the first strike, should she try to attack. As soon as he noticed, though, he held his head high.

  


"Yesterday I told you that I had a bad feeling. You didn't listen. So I took matters into my own hands. As we can see, I was right."

  


"It was not your decision to make."

  


"I'm the acting Black Paladin, leader of Voltron. Of course it was my call!"

  


"That is right, you are the ACTING Black Paladin and half-Galra."

  


Here, the closet Keith had stuffed his anger into was filled to the brim and burst.

  


"What the fuck has me being half-Galra to do with this?! I thought you were over it!!"

  


"It is of most impo-"

  


There was a snap and one of the chairs crumbled. Both Allura and Keith whirled around, weapons ready.

  


Hunk had used his bayard to break a chair. "Now, that I got your attention. We kinda have enemies on the ship. Let's argue later?"

  


Allura grimaced but Keith was thankful. Hunk was right, they had better things to do than play the 'I told you so' game. And coming from someone that was not Keith made the decision aggravatingly easy to accept for Allura.

  


Rounding the enemies was pathetically simple because apparently, they were good at stealth and sabotage yet weak at direct combat. And after Pidge had squeezed every piece of information she could from them, Allura left all of them on an empty planet.

  


Keith thought the matter was closed with that but Allura whirled around and laid into him.

  


"How could you set traps without informing me? What if they were friendly? Our allies? They would have been blown up! How could you-"

  


"I did what I had to do." Keith bared his teeth. "Also, I know how to disassemble the traps in a matter of minutes. Had they been true allies, it wouldn't have been a problem. And I -"

  


"You cannot simply kill everyone to settle a matter!" Allura roared, looming over Keith. For the fraction of a second, another face flickered of him and Keith flinching before he held his ground.

  


"I didn't kill anyone. They were stunned."

  


But just like his foster parents, Allura didn't listen. She kept on ranting.

  


Until Keith had enough.

  


"You know what, Allura," he hissed, "we need to be mature and calm the fuck down. So I'm doing what I did with Iverson. I'll turn around and vanish until you're calm enough to talk about this like mature Paladin."

  


Granted, he had punched Iverson in the face and broken his ribs before vanishing into the desert. He wouldn't do that with Allura.

  


Jerking, he turned away and practically ran towards the lion hangers. Keith wasted one moment hesitating before walking towards the Black Lion. Who let down his particle barrier with a purr and leaned down to allow Keith entry.

  


Stepping into Black, he whispered a quivering "Get me out." The purr in his head grew into a roar and before Keith knew it, they were out of the castle. They flew into nebulas and through stardust. Keith closed his eyes, clenching them shut, wanting to forget and run.

  


His knuckles were wrapped tightly around Black's handles, a stark white painted in the violet light of Black's cockpit. In fact, Keith bitterly noted, they looked like they had back on that galactic hub, violet patches that proved his Galraness. The same Galraness that must have made Allura not take him seriously since she got over her unjust hatred of him. Or maybe she never had gotten over it, just pretended to in case he died in the battle back then. Oh, it wouldn't do to feel guilt over unsaid feelings, would it?  
  
Keith growled, a sound echoed by Black, inside and outside of his head. The lion roared and shot off, faster than he had ever before. Keith rejoiced in this, rejoiced in the familiar speed, in the adrenaline that shot through his veins and brought tears to his eyes.  
  
That's the only reason liquid was dripping down his face.  
  
"Faster," he told Black, gripping the handles even tighter. Faster. Faster. Until Allura and all unwanted responsibilities failed to matter, didn't catch up to him. Until he wasn't Keith the new Black Paladin with Galra heritage but Keith. Just Keith, the same Keith that screamed in joy as he raced with the wind across the desert hills and cliffs.  
  
Black indulged him for a while, speeding up and slowing down in unpredictable loops and saltos, a new wave of adrenaline replacing his blood every time. But then Black lost speed and veered towards the left, heading towards a violet planet.  
  
"No." A growl refuted his refusal. "Don't land, keep flying."  
  
However, there was no negotiating with the Black Lion. Steadily he flew into the planet's atmosphere, breaking through violet clouds and landing on blue sands on his own.   
  
Leaning back, Keith finally let go of Black's handles and crossed his arms. "Now what?" Keith huffed, sliding down the seat and fully aware that he looked like the dictionary picture of 'pouting child'.  
  
Amusement flooded through their bond as Black opened his mouth and spit Keith out by folding the seat underneath him out of the way.   
  
With a high-pitched yelp, Keith tumbled to the ground, getting a mouthful of the planet's blue sand. By the time he had straightened himself and coughed the sand out of his mouth, Black had put up his particle barrier and powered down.   
  
Keith gaped at Black in disbelief. Had he just been evicted by his Lion? And then locked out, so that he had no way of going back to the Castle? Keith's hands balled into fists and his teeth gritted together as he tried to not explode.  
  
Another wave of amusement withered away his resolution not to give in to his temper.  
  
"Are you kidding me?! Now my current lion is turning against me? Even you? Isn't Allura going behind my back enough? Isn't it enough that everyone expects me to lead, but when I do lead they refuse to follow my lead? What's the point of me leading then!? No point. There's no point in me being the leader or piloting you if NO ONE LISTENS TO ME?!"  
  
Clapping reached Keith's ears and he jerked to the side. Lance was standing there, in his undersuit and the underneath-the-waist part of his armor. His eyebrows were raised, head tilted, Red sitting down next to Black behind him. Shame coursed through Keith.   
  
Keith's arm went up to rub at his eyes, and his jacket came away wet. Oh wonderful. Not only had both Lance and Red witnessed his rant but they had also seen him crying. Another point against him being the leader. You don't let your subordinates see you cry.

  


Snorting, Lance stepped closer, unsurprisingly smooth fingers rubbing over the corners of Keith's eyes. Lance was too close. So close that Keith could count each and every single one of his eyelashes.

  


"Buddy, your skin won't thank you. Let it out now, and we'll take care of your poor skin later."

  


"What?"

  


Lance chortled, inching away but still close enough so that he could settle one of his hands on Keith's shoulder.

  


"Well," Lance drawled, "crying isn't the best thing for the skin, you know? Neither is sand and you have a face full of it." Then he started wiping away the sand off Keith's face, nose twitching.

  


Keith felt off-kilter. Where was the mocking? The spiteful words? The gleeful cackling about how much of a failure Keith was and that he should never have been made the leader? Where was it all?

  


No. Instead of doing what Keith expected him to do, Lance just gently cleaned his face, concentrated and silent. Without knowing why, a fresh wave of tears dripped from Keith's eyes.

  


On reflex, his arms raised to rub them away but Lance shushed him.

  


"You do that, you'll get more sand in your eyes. You're not that idiotic, are you?"

  


"I'm not idiotic at all, that's you." Another reflex - answering Lance with an insult.

  


Yet Lance snorted. "Yeah, you're alright again." He still kept wiping Keith's face although it had to be clean and without sand by now.

  


There was something in Keith's eyes and his throat that wasn't right - not with the way they itched and burned. Maybe because Lance was that gentle with him? He couldn't remember Lance ever being that gentle with him - except that forgotten bonding moment in which Lance had smiled softly at Keith and commented on their compatibility as a team.

  


"Why aren't you saying anything?" Keith burst out.

  


One meticulously groomed eyebrow raised in question before Lance smiled, lighter and thinner than any of his usual smiles. "Do I need to say anything?"

  


"Yes!" Keith's fists balled together again, nails piercing through his skin as he dug in deeper.

  


Lance shrugged. "I don't see why I should say anything. Or what."

  


"What about how pathetic I am? I'm screaming at a lion that's supposed to be mine leading a team that supposed to be following me but won't because I'm just the reckless halfbreed they don't trust. I'm crying and kicking and ranting like a child, and running away like I were nine again, too much trouble for anyone to handle. And-"

  


During Keith's entire rant Lance had listened, head tilted to the side and eyes trained on Keith. Now, though, now he drew Keith into a hug, pressing Keith's face into his spindly collarbones, just as sharp as the rest of his bone structure.

  


In the first few moments, Keith fought to get free, fought against the comfort that Lance freely offered but then - then he gave in, let himself go limp against Lance. He kept ranting against Lance's suit, kept spilling his guts about how he didn't feel worthy being their leader, kept revealing how much he was missing Shiro and wanted him back, all the while crying.

  


When Keith finally fell silent, he was shaking and trembling, caged in Lance's arms and feeling empty and hollow but also free in a way he hadn't since Shiro's disappearance. For the first time in forever, he could concentrate on the here and now.

  


He noticed the sweaty warmth he was enveloped in, the warmth that was Lance, the familiar cold of a desert at night, the musky scent of the desert mixing with Lance's ocean breeze scent and the tasteless saltiness of tears on his tongue.

  


"All cried out?" Lance asked, rubbing circles into Keith's sides.

  


Keith hummed, a confirming sound, and just leaned further into Lance, as far as he could. It felt good to be hugged and this was ten times better than the hug with that Arusian (and maybe only twice as good as Hunk's hug after forming Voltron the first time outside battle).

  


"Listen to me." Lance nudged him until he opened his eyes - when had Keith closed them, anyway? "This leader stuff must be pretty stressful for you. Soooo... I had an idea. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or close to exploding into a smol fire of rage, come to me, kay? We'll take Red for a joyride to some safe planet and you can rant and scream and I'll be there to listen."

  


"W-why?" Halfway through Keith yawned. "And what's smol?"

  


"Believe it or not - we worry when you just up and vanish. Already lost one Black Paladin, buddy. And you are smol."

  


Brows furrowing, Keith figured that smol meant angry or mad, given the context. And who would fly Black if Keith wasn't there, of course, they'd be worried about having to search for a third Black Paladin.

  


"NO! Okay, I lied. I'd worry because what if you were attacked and hurt in your 'woe is me'-routine. I like you too much for that," Lance added, pointedly digging his chin into Keith's hair. "So deal?"

  


Keith didn't have to think long about the answer. "Deal."

  


And that's how their weekly dates began.


	2. ...space are beautiful

It was quite amazing how less stressed Keith became after Shiro had returned. It had also been quite amazing watching the tenderness and pure want crawl over his face as he cradled Shiro's shivering form in his arms. Even though it had hurt Lance to watch that, he couldn't deny that it had been amazing.

  


What wasn't so amazing was the shift in the team dynamics and the sudden weirdness of it.

  


In the beginning of their space adventure they had just been five kids - Shiro wasn't that much older than them - trying to function independently from each other while still being a team. Over the course of the months, they had smoothed out, gotten to know each other and anticipate each other's moves. They had learned to trust Hunk's steadiness, his -Lance's- leaps of intuition to support the team, Keith's instincts when to push on, Pidge's spontaneous yet careful plans and Shiro's cool demeanor that seeped through their gaps like soothing calm.

  


When they lost that, lost Shiro, they had fallen apart, only to come back together in a new constellation. Instead of a cool river - like Lance had imagined them in the end of era one - they had become a waterfall. Keith's determination to go further and stronger, Hunk's stability, Allura's tenacity, Pidge's increasing desperation to find her family and his own pushing on. They had recalibrated their dynamic but smoothed out, though how fast they were going down was a matter of speculation.

  


Then Shiro had come back and here they were, a pool of water displaced and stopped in its tracks, as though a dam had appeared from one day to the next.

  


Everything was hanging in a weird kind of stasis and insecurity was flying all around. Were there two Black Paladins, two Red Paladins or two Blue ones? Nevermind that Lance couldn’t get into Blue - he ignored the fresh wound over his heart - and Black didn’t accept Shiro back.

  


Lance blinked. He got off track, this wasn’t what he was thinking about - oh yes, Keith and his stress levels.

  


Shiro was backseat leading and this took a lot of pressure off Keith’s shoulders. It helped that Allura listened more to Shiro than to Keith, which baffled Lance. He thought Keith would bristle at that blatant and unfair difference in treatment yet he seemed to be cool with that.

  


Stretching his arms above his head and arching his back, Lance sighed before his shoulders slumped and arms dangled. Now that Shiro was back, did Keith still need him? Or would Keith rant and vent at Shiro? Would they take out Black for a spin and land on a planet to talk or spar?

  


(Lance was Red’s pilot now but he was Keith’s right hand, not Shiro’s, but the status quo confused Lance.)

  


“... I don’t see why I shouldn’t.”

  


Lance’s head jerked to the side as Keith’s voice reached his ears. Slowing down, he strained his ears to understand more.

  


“You are needed here, Keith! This is your place and duty! You are the Black Paladin!”

  


Shiro? Yeah, that was Shiro’s voice, weirdly cold and detached but just as determined and commandeering as usual. Lance frowned.

  


Didn’t Shiro know that telling Keith this was the equivalent of shackling Keith, of demanding that he bow down to an authority he didn’t want to bow down to? Shiro should know how well Keith reacted to that.

  


News flash, the last time someone did Keith ran away - though Lance didn’t know if he meant the time Keith left the Castle or the Garrison. It didn’t matter, both counted.

  


Lance inched closer to the voices and realized that he was basically standing in front of the lounge door.

  


“I want to know more of my mother’s side of the family and if Kolivan offers me some knowledge … why are you against it!”

  


A note of stifled desperation entered Keith’s voice. It was the same emotion that got Keith to seek out Lance to go venting but it lacked the rage Lance associated with it. However, while his voice was void of rage, it was filled with a delicate fragility, a glass that was close to shattering should Shiro use his words with all the grace of a sledgehammer.

  


"There's enough time for that ... after the war. But we need you, now!"

  


Lance winced. He could almost hear the glass shatter as Keith sucked in a harsh breath. Taking a deep breath, Lance rotated his shoulder blades and adopted a deliberately relaxed pose before he strutted into the lounge.

  


"Yo, Mullet, you there?" Lance said as jovially as he could, smiling as brightly as usual while he analyzed the situation.

  


Shiro and Keith were standing in the middle of the room, face to face. Shiro had his back straight, shoulders pushed back and arms crossed while Keith was leaning forward, hands balled as though he was literally holding himself back from throwing himself at Shiro.

  


“We’re having a discussion right now, Lance,” Shiro pressed out, trying to smile. It came out as a grimace instead, twisting his facial features into something that only _resembled_ Shiro, their leader.

  


But Lance spared Shiro a mere cursory glance before his eyes focussed on Keith, who was staring back at him. Lance was trying to convey to Keith that he was offering him an escape. Hopefully Keith would pick this up unlike the time Lance had attempted to wordlessly explain his plan on Balmera. Then again, they had come far since their mission there.

  


When Keith’s eyes flickered and his confused frown tilted into a smile, Lance knew that the message was received.

  


“Need my help, Lance?”

  


“Yup.” Lance popped the ‘p’ and threw his hands behind his head. “Red is somehow glitching? I need help.”

  


Somehow, Lance didn’t think that Keith’s resulting gasp was faked. It dripped too much of sincere offense.

  


“Red doesn’t glitch. If anyone’s glitching, it’s you.”

  


“Haha,” Lance just said before throwing his hands up in a gesture of helplessness. Moving them might also hide exactly how much he was sweating under Shiro’s sharp gaze. “Anyway, come with me, now. Sorry, Shiro.”

  


“Are you sure this can’t wait, Lance? Me and Keith need to talk about important matters - matters that are _actually_ important.”

  


A shiver went down Lance’s spine. He couldn’t explain why but in that moment, Shiro felt scary, almost seeming to loom over them with teeth gnashing against each other.

  


Keith, like he so often did, came to Lance’s rescue. “We’re finished here, Shiro. I’m standing my ground. Come on, Lance.” Turning away from Shiro, Keith stepped forward and grabbed Lance’s arm to drag him towards the hangars.

  


Out of instinct, Lance kept a careful eye on Shiro as he was dragged away. He watched Shiro jerk forward, open his mouth and then clicking his jaw shut. He watched Shiro’s eyes blaze before narrowing. He watched Shiro tremble until the doors slid shut and he couldn’t see them anymore.

  


“Oh god, that was weird,” Lance murmured before yelping as Keith dug his nails into Lance, still yanking him away. “Hey, hey, Keith, slow down.”

  


“No,” Keith said, more hissing than anything else, “we’re going to Red. Please.” Keith’s hands were sweaty and his breathing was irregular, his heartbeat racing so hard that Lance could feel it echoing through his skin.

  


There was no way that the pace they had going would tire Keith that much, so Lance kept quiet and quickened his own steps. Within five minutes they were looking up to Red, who let out a loud purr before bending down and opening her mouth for them.

  


Without pausing or taking the time to put on armor, Keith let go of Lance and jumped up, balancing on Red’s tongue. Cursing underneath his breath, Lance dove after him, only stumbling slightly as he followed Keith.

  


“Could you, I dunno, wait?” Lance gasped as Keith dashed to the pilot seat and pulled down the handles. Red roared, jerking her head up, and the space hatches opened.

  


Red’s screens flickered before Allura appeared, frowning heavily, although both Shiro and Coran could be seen in the background.

  


“What do you think you are doing?” Allura said, a note of frost in her voice. “Close the doors.” But it was Shiro glaring at both of them that chilled Lance to the bone.

  


“Going out.” Keith said, grip getting tenser. Red roared again and then they were out of the Castle surrounded by the infinities of space.

  


“No, you are not. Come back now.”

  


With a swipe of his hand Keith shut down the communication panel and Allura faded away. Well, Allura would be insufferable as soon as they returned to the Castle.

  


“Well done, gen-”

  


Keith interrupted Lance with a breathy “Can we have one now?”

  


Immediately Lance realized what Keith wanted, and he had promised ‘anytime’. “Sure, but maybe find a planet? It’s rather cold, isn’t it? I never realized how warm our suits kept us.”

  


Without another word Red spiralled down and shot forward, until they had left the Castle far behind. The only sounds in the cockpit were Red’s low purring, the pants of their breaths and a sort of conflicted silence. Conflicted cause for all of his usual talkativeness, Lance knew out of instinct that if he said a word at that moment, Keith would snap, but Lance still wanted to talk.

  


He didn’t, waiting for them to break through the atmosphere of a rusted, violet planet. The planet reminded Lance of a bigger, less mean Saturn - cold but not too cold and equipped with breathable oxygen according to one of the screens on Red’s console.

  


With a metallic groan and worryingly loud cracking underneath Red’s claws, she landed and bent down, opening her mouth.

  


Before Lance was able to mutter a word, Keith shot out of Red and climbed up her snout. Glittering wisps of ice crystals floated into Red and Lance closed his eyes groaning. Shit, it was cold and the only thing they had were the clothes they wore when leaving Earth.

  


Of course, Lance would be surprised if Keith was thinking about the cold or its consequences or doing anything but running on pure adrenaline. Sighing, he followed.

  


Lance hissed when he touched Red to heave himself up, the cold more than burning and being a wonderful motivator in scrambling up faster. As soon as he balanced on top of her snout, hands grabbed his jacket and dragged him further from the edge, completely disregarding Lance’s yelping.

  


“I don’t understand!” Without ado Keith burst out, vibrating against Lance, and drew his thoughts out in the open like one of the maps that had been ducktaped to his shack’s walls. “Shiro’s not like that. Shiro’s always believed in me, always stood at me side, encouraging. He … he isn’t that, that - just that person!”

  


Keith’s hand spasmed and Lance noticed only now that Keith was shaking, his whole body was shaking. His eyes were wide, not a nebula but the wildness of them resembled black holes.

  


What cliché metaphors, but these were the only ones coming to Lance’s mind.

  


This wasn’t the first time Keith ranted at Lance - obviously, what with their arrangement - but it was the first time that Keith was this shook up. Not even when he had fallen apart in Lance’s arms after Allura had thrown the Galra thing and spurning of his leadership had he been this bad. The truly catastrophic thing that time had been that Pidge and Hunk had sided with Allura - more about the leading than the Galra thing, though.

  


“Family’s important. Shiro had said that if I wanted to find my parents, he’d help. What changed? What did change? Is it because my mother is Galra?”

  


“Hey, hey,” Lance said, deciding to wing it instead of carefully considering his words as he wrapped his fingers around Keith’s clenched fists. “First, calm down, god, you’re trembling too much.”

  


Squeezing his fingers together, Lance rubbed along Keith’s skin - to offer comfort on one hand, to warm Keith up on the other.

  


“Then, you’re right. It’s very important to find family. Ok?” Though he was asking Keith more than telling him, his movements stayed sure and he held up their eye contact.

  


“It’s … not that Shiro doesn’t want to help me,” Keith said, tremors weakening to the occasional shudder. “It’s that he rejected everything I had to say from the start! He’s been the only person to never do that. He always listened.”

  


Lance hummed, unfurling Keith’s fingers from his jacket, carefully, as though he was unfolding an origami flower made of Tosa Tengujo. “Didn’t know him as well as you did but since we took him from that escape pod in the middle of nowhere … he hasn’t been the same.”

  


“I know. It’s - like his temper is a string, my temper is a string bound to snap, it’s weird to see him - are you shaking, Lance?”

  


“Huh?” Blinking, Lance looked at his hands and Keith was right. They were shaking, and not with the idleness of boredom. Now that he focussed he realized that the freaking cold wasn’t as bearable as he thought. “It’s ok. I’m just cold.”

  


“Seriously?” Without hesitating Keith shrugged off his jacket - though calling that thing a jacket was almost an insult - and wrapped it around Lance’s shoulders. “You’re an idiot?”

  


“I’m an idiot?!” Lance choked out as he stared at Keith, who was standing there with his usual shirt  - meaning short-sleeved and v-necked. It was cold enough for their breaths to come out in little white huffs.

  


“Yeah, you are.”

  


“Am not. I’m still cold, just looking at you, so-”

  


Instead of explaining, Lance tugged Keith’s jacket from his shoulders, keeping a tight hold onto it, and peeled his own jacket off. With quick fingers he managed to get it onto Keith.

  


In the two minutes Lance spent without a jacket, he was glad that he wore a long-sleeved shirt. Even Keith’s half-thing was better than nothing.

  


“Lance … this makes no sense, you’ll be cold that way.”

  


“Nah, you’re hot.”

  


While Keith blinked at him, his irises widening, Lance blushed before sputtering. “I meant that you kept your jacket hot. With your body heat. So, so, I’m good.”

  


Keith chuffed and fluidly sat down on Red’s nose, dragging Lance down with him. “If it’s ok, just - I need to recharge.”

  


“So, sit in silence?” Lance clarified and gave in, sinking to the metal and bumping his shoulders against Keith’s.

  


“Yes.”

  


Wordlessly nodding, Lance leaned against Keith sideways, almost back to back, and staring up to space. The sky was illuminated with red and gold and blue-tinted black, almost like Earth’s Northern lights, just moving in spirals down to the planet instead of  along the firmament.

  


A firm pressure against his body caused Lance to tilt his head. Keith was closer to him, his eyes up to the sky and heads wrapped around himself. With an unconscious smile Lance tugged on Keith’s jacket on his shoulders and looked into space again.

  


Undeniable was the fact that a strange, weary peace filled this moment, overshadowed by the beauty of space.


End file.
